Sorry I have been so slack on the blog front but we have made it to our final destination Chulucanas. I can´t say how happy I am to be here and rest finally. Lida is looking after us very nicely and yesterday I slept pretty much all day, it was wonderful.

Apart from that though the last week has been pretty busy. After our day in Arequipa we decided to take a tour to the Valle del Colcon which is about five hours out of Arequipa and you can see Condors. I don´t usually do tours but we had Lida with us so we thought it would be easier that way and it was pretty fun really. We stopped at a few touristy places along the way, met a really cool girl from New Zealand and the Condors were amazing. They are so big and they flew around for about an hour. They were actually looking for food but to me it was like they were putting on a show just for us.

That went for two days and then we moved on to Lima. I am not a huge fan of Lima but it was good to be there and catch up with some of Martin´s family. We saw his dad and some cousins and I finally met his nephew, Diego. He is absolutely gorgeous and kept calling me tia (aunt) I loved it. We also watched the soccer game between Peru and Argentina. Unortunately Peru didn´t win but it was exciting. Peru played four games in the Copa America before getting knocked out in the second round and they won two and lost two but I saw the two they lost. I hope I am not bad luck. We also went the stadium of Martin´s soccer team “La U” and watched a game. They tied. It was fun and I am pleased to finally have seen up close the other love of Martin´s life.

After two days in Lima we took the overnight bus to Piura and arrived at about 8.30 in the morning. We have visited many places in South America now which are far more beautiful than Piura and have talked a lot about where we may live but nothing feels like home quite like Piura does. It has changed a lot though and thankfully seems to be doing a lot better and much cleaner. I don´t know if that is true but it does seem that way. We visited Martin´s brother and his new baby. She is so cute although being around babies makes me so clucky. We also visited Martin´s other niece and Koky, Cesar and Arturo. Again they all seem to be doing really well which makes so happy. It was strange been there and made me feel very nostalgic. It is a good thing that things change and people grow but I guess part of us wants things to stay the same.

Then finally at about 8.30 in the evening we took the bus to Chulucanas. Lida has painted, reorganised and cleaned the whole house for us. It looks great actually and feels homely. She has been a wonderful host. I think she enjoyed the trip but really she is much more content having us in her home and I too am content. It was nice to unpack the bags fully knowing I don´t have to pack them up for another ten days. I have slipped in to the very slow paced life of the town. I have slept, ate, read, gone for some short walks around the place but pretty nothing else for two days. After the last couple of months I have so needed that. Tommorrow we go back to Piura to visit some of the families that I was friends with through Ayni. I am feeling a little anxious about it, there is a lot going on for them and me really, so am glad I have taken these two days to just relax. I haven´t made up my mind if I am going to go out to the school yet. I don´t think it would be at all helpful but people keep telling me I should. They think they´d be offended if I didn´t and I have to say Peruvians are kind of like that. I guess we´ll see.

Martin has been a lot more active, visiting people, playing basketball and catching up with everyone. He is so happy. Lots of memories here too for us. It is kind of like falling in love all over again.